Harvard Museum of Natural History exhibit explores how to combat climate change

Jody Feinberg The Patriot Ledger

Tuesday

Mar 19, 2019 at 4:56 AMMar 19, 2019 at 2:44 PM

In the past few years, an intense storm flooded sections of Quincy, wildfires killed dozens and destroyed hundreds of thousands of acres of property in parched California, torrential rains submerged one-third of Bangladesh, and a heat wave and drought destroyed crops and caused deaths in Europe. As a reminder of this destructive impact of extreme weather events, a new exhibit opens with large screen projections of some of these disasters around the world.

Rather than random, unrelated events, these are the results of a warming climate, according to "Climate Change" at the Harvard Museum of Natural History in Cambridge. The exhibit, subtitled "Our Global Experiment," establishes the truth and impact of climate change, but also asks "What can be done?" and presents some promising technological innovations and policy initiatives. It is both disturbing and hopeful, visionary and realistic, as expressed by Harvard Kennedy School Professor John Holdren in one of the wall quotes:

"We can mitigate (reduce greenhouse gas emission), we can adapt (manage the impacts) or we can suffer," Holdren said. "And we are likely to do some of each."

To make the point that people need to be more responsible guardians, lead curator Professor Dan Schrag printed this 2016 observation from biologist Edward O. Wilson: "Climate change is our child that we left unrestrained for too long."

In data graphs, visitors can see the dramatic rise of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere since measurements began in 1960, as well as in sea levels since 1993, and in reductions of polar ice sheets since 2007. Sea ice decline - caused largely by a warming planet - is alarming because the ice cools the atmosphere by reflecting sunlight and by insulating it from the vast reservoir of ocean heat. And melting ice causes sea levels to rise.

If these levels continue their rise, 143 million people will need to find other places to live in order to survive as land is submerged under rising sea levels and once-fertile land dries up. Much of Boston, for example, and other coastal cities will be underwater.

Fortunately, people around the world are raising alarms and pursuing strategies, despite the denial of climate change by the Trump administration, who withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreement, an ambitious worldwide effort to slow global warming.

Drawing on the expertise of Harvard University professors, the exhibit presents some new scientific findings and public policy initiatives.

Just two years ago, Harvard established a geoengineering research program to study technologies and bring together scientists, environmental leaders and policy makers from around the globe. "Solar geoengineering" is the term for new technologies that reflect solar radiation back into space and counteract global warming. In diagrams, visitors can see some of the out-of-the box solutions now under study. One is called scattering, where an aerosol injection in the upper atmosphere releases tiny reflective particles that create a kind of sunshield. Others are giant space mirrors, cirrus cloud thinners, light reflecting buildings and crops, and reflective ocean surface micro bubbles.

To protect Boston from flooding, researchers are considering a gated barrier in Boston Harbor. To maintain the food supply, they are pursuing ways to increase plant resilience to drought and heat.

But no matter how effective these adaptations are, and no one knows the answers yet, it still will be necessary to reduce carbon dioxide by replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy and using energy more efficiently. Visitors learn that 80 percent of the energy in modern economies comes from coal, oil and gas, and more than 90 percent of carbon dioxide emissions come from 22 countries.

But wind and solar, once seen as too expensive and unrealistic, have become less expensive than fossil fuels in many locations. In the U.S., eight states now get more than 25 percent of their electricity from wind, solar and biomass, and six more generate that much electricity from those sources and hydroelectric power. As demand grows, businesses have an incentive to advance the renewable energy technologies.

In a series of videos, visitors can hear Harvard professors discuss policy incentives to reduce fossil fuel reliance, such as a carbon dioxide tax, and cap and trade, where businesses trade allowances if their emissions are below or above the established limit. They stress that research and support are crucial, in particular to develop batteries that can store larger amounts of renewable energy over a longer period of time.

"If government primes the pump, businesses will pick up the challenge," said Harvard Business School Professor Rebecca Henderson. "They're not tree huggers. They've discovered it's (renewal energy investment) a great way to make money."

The crisis requires a multi-national collaboration, like the Argo Program where countries have placed 4,000 research floats in oceans around the world that are providing real-time monitoring data. A model is at the center of the exhibit.

Ultimately, the exhibit is a call for action, stressing that the time is now to recognize the threat of global warming and reduce it.

"One hope is that as different communities prepare for the impacts of climate change and learn about their particular vulnerabilities, they will develop stronger support for action ... If nothing is done to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the impact of climate change will continue to worsen, ultimately making it virtually impossible to manage," Schrag said.

Reach Jody Feinberg at jfeinberg@patriotledger.com. Follow her on Twitter@JodyF_Ledger.